Tag: spring hiking

Mud Lake

Destination: Mud Lake, Boulder County Open Space

Date: 5/21/2017

Time of Day: 10:30 am start. Herd of turtles again

Distance/Elevation/Difficulty: 1.9 miles (Tungsten and Kinnickinnick loops)/~300 feet/Easy

Time Elapsed: 90 minutes.

Trail map of Mud Lake

Comments: We could hike to Mud Lake from our house, but we didn’t want to add 1.2 miles through the spring snow to our hike. So we drove. We also remembered our YakTrax so walking on the packed snow was easier. The YakTrax worked well, but there were challenges with keeping them on our shoes. Snow would build up between the Trax and our shoes, dislodging the Trax. Alex did a great job in the snow and walked approximately a half mile before asking to be put in the Osprey.

During our hike, a couple of other hikers told us about a moose that was just off the trail. Unfortunately, the moose was gone by the time we arrived, as evidence in the tracks in the snow. Alex was disappointed but seemed to accept the explanation that ‘Mister Moose’ had to go home for lunch.

Part of the Tungsten loop borders Mud Lake Proper where we saw a beaver. Walking on, we saw a male and female duck pair (mallards, teals? They didn’t quack, but we are certain they were ducks of some sort) diving for food in the lake. Alex got a good giggle over the duck butts up in the air. Not a moose, but not a bad consolation prize.

Would we return? This is a great hike. Easy for the days where we don’t want to over exert our selves. Another advantage is the easy access from the house. Dave and Alex will be returning here for 9 weeks during the summer to participate in the Wild Bear Nature Center summer camp program.

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Lost Lake

Destination: Lost Lake in the Indian Peaks Wilderness

Date: 5/6/2017

Time of Day: 10 am start. This time reflects when we arrived, parked, got Alex loaded into his Osprey, and started walking towards the trail head. We are like a herd of turtles some days, and it was one of those days. This is a popular trail head on a beautiful spring day. We were parked in the designated parking area and were not forced to park in Eldora.

Distance/Elevation: 4.2 miles/931 feet

Time Elapsed: 3.5 – 4 hours. We did not hike around the lake, but this time includes Alex splashing in mud along the lake shore.

Comments: A beautiful hike. While there was a good amount of traffic, everyone was polite and all dogs encountered were leashed and well behaved. Upper half of trail was slippery with snow pack and we wished we had our YakTrax. Lesson learned for spring hiking. The Hessie trail head was about a 10 minute walk from the parking area, if the water level had been lower at a couple points, we would have attempted to drive to the trail head (2017 Subaru Outback).

Would we return? Definitely. There are campsites along the lake, we would like to hike up and go tent camping later in the summer. This would allow us to hike some of the other trails in the area.

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